Liskov (engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Guttag (computer science and engineering, also at MIT) present a component- based methodology for software program development. The book focuses on modular program construction: how to get the modules right and how to organize a program as a collection of modules. It explains the key types of abstractions, demonstrates how to develop specifications that define these abstractions, and illustrates how to implement them using numerous examples. An introduction to key Java concepts is included. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

"Abstraction and Specification in Program Development" offers professionals in program design and software engineering a methodology that will enable them to construct programs that are reliable and reasonably easy to understand, modify, and maintain. Good programming involves the systematic mastery of complexity, and this book provides the first unified treatment of the techniques of abstraction and specification, which, the authors argue, are the linchpin of any effective approach to programming. They place particular emphasis on the use of data abstraction to produce highly modular programs.The authors focus on the process of decomposing large program projects into independent modules that can be assigned to independent working groups. They discuss methods of decomposition, the kinds of modules that are most useful in this process, and techniques to increase the likelihood that modules produced can in fact be recombined to solve the original programming problem. There are many examples of abstractions throughout the text, and each chapter ends with pertinent references and exercises.Most of the sample implementations in the book are written in CLU, one of a growing number of languages able to support data abstraction. Sufficient material is included, however, to allow the reader to work in Pascal as well.The material in this book was developed by the authors during a decade of teaching undergraduate, graduate, and professional-level courses. Barbara Liskov, the developer of CLU, is Professor and John Guttag an Associate Professor of Computer Science at MIT. "Abstraction and Specification in Program Development" is included in the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science series.

Written by a world-renowned expert on programming methodology, and the winner of the 2008 Turing Award, this book shows how to build production-quality programs--programs that are reliable, easy to maintain, and quick to modify. Its emphasis is on modular program construction: how to get the modules right and how to organize a program as a collection of modules. The book presents a methodology effective for either an individual programmer, who may be writing a small program or a single module in a larger one; or a software engineer, who may be part of a team developing a complex program comprised of many modules. Both audiences will acquire a solid foundation for object-oriented program design and component-based software development from this methodology. Because each module in a program corresponds to an abstraction, such as a collection of documents or a routine to search the collection for documents of interest, the book first explains the kinds of abstractions most useful to programmers: procedures; iteration abstractions; and, most critically, data abstractions. Indeed, the author treats data abstraction as the central paradigm in object-oriented program design and implementation. The author also shows, with numerous examples, how to develop informal specifications that define these abstractions--specifications that describe what the modules do--and then discusses how to implement the modules so that they do what they are supposed to do with acceptable performance. Other topics discussed include: Encapsulation and the need for an implementation to provide the behavior defined by the specification Tradeoffs between simplicity and performance Techniques to help readers of code understand and reason about it, focusing on such properties as rep invariants and abstraction functions Type hierarchy and its use in defining families of related data abstractions Debugging, testing, and requirements analysis Program design as a top-down, iterative process, and design patterns The Java programming language is used for the book's examples. However, the techniques presented are language independent, and an introduction to key Java concepts is included for programmers who may not be familiar with the language.

An approach to software design that introduces a fully automated analysis giving designers immediate feedback, now featuring the latest version of the Alloy language. In Software Abstractions Daniel Jackson introduces an approach to software design that draws on traditional formal methods but exploits automated tools to find flaws as early as possible. This approach—which Jackson calls “lightweight formal methods” or “agile modeling”—takes from formal specification the idea of a precise and expressive notation based on a tiny core of simple and robust concepts but replaces conventional analysis based on theorem proving with a fully automated analysis that gives designers immediate feedback. Jackson has developed Alloy, a language that captures the essence of software abstractions simply and succinctly, using a minimal toolkit of mathematical notions. This revised edition updates the text, examples, and appendixes to be fully compatible with Alloy 4.

*JS123-6, 0-201-71359-4, Riley, David; The Object of Data Abstraction and Structures (Using Java) This book covers traditional data structures using an early object-oriented approach, and by paying special attention to developing sound software engineering skills. Provides extensive coverage of foundational material needed to study data structures (objects and classes, software specification, inheritance, exceptions, and recursion). Provides an object-oriented approach to abstract design using UML class diagrams and several design patterns. Emphasizes software-engineering skills as used in professional practice.MARKET Readers who want to use the most powerful features of Java to program data structures.

Computer Science: Reflections on the Field, Reflections from the Field provides a concise characterization of key ideas that lie at the core of computer science (CS) research. The book offers a description of CS research recognizing the richness and diversity of the field. It brings together two dozen essays on diverse aspects of CS research, their motivation and results. By describing in accessible form computer science's intellectual character, and by conveying a sense of its vibrancy through a set of examples, the book aims to prepare readers for what the future might hold and help to inspire CS researchers in its creation.